Now in its 60th year, the California Student Media Festival is our nation’s oldest student media festival. Over the past twenty-five years, the California Student Media Festival has awarded nearly $200,000 to past winners. It has expanded to include the work of more than 6,000 student contestants from schools across the state. The Festival exists to celebrate the amazing media and multimedia projects produced by California’s students — rewarding and acknowledging their successful classroom work at an awards event in spring every year.

DONATE: mediafestival.org/donate

Awards & Prizes

PRIZES: mediafestival.org/prizes

Category Winners (in each of three divisions: Elementary, Middle, and High School):
- Film/Video, fiction
- Film/Video, non-fiction
- Animation
- Photography
- Audio, music
- Audio, podcast or spoken word
- Interactive Media

Special Awards:
- Storyscapes Creator (HS entries) - $1,000 Scholarship - provided by Book Creator
- Imaginative Lens Scholarship (MS entries) - $1,000 Scholarship - provided by Book Creator
- Use of Artificial Intelligence 
- Greatness of Libraries Serving Youth - $500 for one winning school
- Media & Information Literacy - two awards - $500 for each winning school
- Park Adventures: 175 Years of California Dreaming*
...and more special awards to be announced!

GRAND PRIZE AWARDS (for the best of Elementary, Middle, High School winners)
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This year, the festival is pleased to announce that our partners are helping the festival provide a  'swag bag' of goodies to the winners, including:
- A commemorative plaque
- One set of TWT Audio Headphones ($21 value)
- One year of WeVideo access for each winner ($240 value)
- One year of CALIE membership for the winner's teacher ($50 value)
- FREE Book Creator Premium account for the winner's teacher for one year ($135 value)

GRAND PRIZE WINNERS
- Teachers of the three Grand Prize Winning projects will receive one free registration to attend Spring CUE 2027 (next year), powered by CALIE  (a $450 value)

Rules & Terms

FIRST- REVIEW OUR RUBRIC: mediafestival.org/rubric
Age-appropriate language for each category!

All entries must be the work of TK-12 students attending school in the state of California. Entries must have a valid, public web address accessible to everyone. Please make sure the project link is available through June and does not "time out." All film/video entries must be 15 minutes (or less) in runtime.

Please be sure the students' teachers, administrators, coordinators or librarians have permission on file for all of the students featured in the project. It will be the adult's responsibility to save all forms releasing student likeness until requested by media festival officials. Contact info@mediafestival.org for any questions on permissions.

We offer THREE GRADE LEVEL DIVISIONS: Elementary (grades TK-5), Middle (grades 6-8) & Secondary (grades 9-12).

For each project, choose only ONE CATEGORY: Film/Video (fiction), Film/Video (non-fiction), Animation, Photography, Audio (music), Audio (podcast/spoken word), or Interactive Media. NOTE: since most entries are Film/Video, we encourage any entry that features a different medium to choose the category you would like scored.

​- Film/Video, Fiction: A made-up story or concept. Not based on a real event.*
- Film/Video, Nonfiction: A documentary-style recap of an actual event, educational or 'how-to' presentation or public service announcement (PSA) are all examples of Non-fiction film/video entries.*
*Both types of Film/Video entries use the same Film/Video Rubric.
- Animation: Technique to create the illusion of motion. Examples include: stop-motion, computer or hand-drawn moving images, claymation, 2-D, 3-D, machinima and LEGO.
- Photography: A static image produced through a traditional or digital camera. Editing is allowed - be creative!
- Audio, Music: Any original or parody musical work, including songs, instrumentals, or soundscapes.
- Audio, Podcast: Any interview, podcast or spoken word.
- Interactive Media: multimedia, AR/VR, AI, 3-D models, Original Apps, Games, etc.

All entries must be NO LONGER than 15 minutes in length. if longer, please edit your project down to your best 15 minutes for the judges to consider.

Teachers, parents, or program coordinators submit all entries. All communication from the festival will be sent to the ADULT responsible for the entry.

Teachers are limited to a maximum of THREE total entries per class project. Do not submit an entire class of entries - pick your top three.

Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. PDT on the day of the entry due date.

Entries must represent work that was completed after March 30, 2025.

Book Creator Scholarships are restricted by the following Terms & Conditions: mediafestival.org/creatortc

Save a complete, high-resolution copy of your project, as this is required for all winning projects.